


away from the world

by cherrysalad



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Femslash February 2018, Mourning, Post-Battle of Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 06:23:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13564701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrysalad/pseuds/cherrysalad
Summary: "You're doing what you need to do. You're allowed to take care of yourself, love,"





	away from the world

Luna's house was quiet in a way that Ginny had never known. The moments of silence she had experienced at the burrow or at Hogwarts were brief and rare, you were always thinking and worrying about when they would end, but at Luna's house the quiet was something permanent. Something that had settled into the bones of the house, the earth beneath it and the trees surrounding it.

She went there after the war because she needed extended silence, she needed peace and time to think. To process everything she had lost. 

Luna took her in willingly. She let Ginny sleep in her bed and made her tea and scones in the morning. They spent hours wandering through the forest near Luna's house. Sometimes they talked, sometimes they didn't.

Ginny was selfish for escaping like this, she knew she was. The weight of her guilt was constantly sitting in her stomach, like a cold and heavy stone. She thought of her mother who was grieving the loss of a son and George who was grieving the loss of the boy who was both his brother and platonic soulmate, she knew that she should have been by their side, but every time she thought of going back to the burrow she couldn't bring herself to leave Luna's secluded, silent paradise. 

…

Luna found her out by the shallow, brown pond in her yard. It was past midnight and the sky was a heavy blanket, shielding them. 

Ginny had her finger stuck in the cold mud, prying a smooth, flat stone from the ground. She managed to get it loose and got ready to skip it across the pond. 

"You'll bother the fish," Luna said softly from behind. Ginny turned.

"Oh," She said softly "I'm sorry. I didn't think of that," 

"It's alright," Luna said and sat down besides Ginny "No one does," For a second Ginny thought of how difficult it must be to be like Luna, to never have anyone really understand you. She pulled Luna against her side and pressed her lips to the top of her head. 

"Have I told you recently that I love you?" She murmured into Luna's hair. Luna hummed softly in response and nuzzled her head into Ginny's shoulder. 

They weren't dating and they weren't friends. It didn't seem like there were adequate words to describe their relationship. Once in fifth year on one of their long and lazy walks around the castle grounds Luna had said that relationships were not mathematical equations and often did not have neat or simple answers. They loved each other, and Ginny supposed that they didn't need anything more than that.

…

They lines of friendship had first began to blur in the year Hogwarts was controlled by death eaters. Luna and Ginny had been best friends since Ginny's third year, and for most of that time she had harbored strong feelings for Luna. 

Whether it was people seeking comfort in unexpected places or just admitting their feelings for one another because they feared they wouldn't get another chance, the stress and terror of that year had produced more than a few strange relationships, Ginny and Luna's included. 

Somewhere in all of the chaos and rebellion and fear they managed to find time for each other. Even before they were something more than friends, Luna was Ginny's lighthouse. The only thing that kept her sane. 

They kissed sometimes, but they never did anything more and they never talked about the kissing. Ginny thought that with Luna she didn't really have to, they understood each other. 

… 

Ginny rested her head on Luna's bare, pale chest. She could feel Luna's arm curling around her naked waist. Moonlight shone through the window, casting a gauzy, gossamer blankets over the two girls. It was an unseasonably cool night for July. 

Ginny sighed contentedly. If only she could stay there, in Luna's bed, she would never have to see the horrors of the outside world again.

…

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Ginny asked. They were sitting at Luna's wobbly, worn kitchen table eating apricot scones and drinking tea, like they did most mornings. Luna looked at her, her head tilted in confusion "I mean, do you think I'm a bad person for avoiding my family and hiding out here?" 

"You're doing what you need to do. You're allowed to take care of yourself, love," Luna said. Ginny smiled softly at her.

"Thank you Luna, for everything," She said quietly.

"You don't need to thank me for anything," Luna reached across the table for Ginny's hand and squeezed it gently. 

…

Summer was fading into Fall. The air acquired a certain crispness and if you looked closely you could see an orange tint at the tips of the leaves. Ginny would have to make the decision whether or not she wanted to return to Hogwarts and complete her education. 

Luckily, the term was starting a month late to give teachers and volunteers extra time to repair the castle, and for students to recover from the battle, although Ginny didn't think an extra month was going to help anybody. 

"Do you think you'll go back to School in October?" Ginny asked tentatively one cool afternoon in early September. 

"I think I will. Will you?" Ginny shrugged in reply. 

"Oh I don't know," Ginny said, her voice coming out in a sigh "It just seems like a lot right now, the homework and the classes and all those people," Luna looked at her for a long time. 

"Do what feels right, but you need to ask yourself when this isolation stops being about healing and starts being about hiding from the world," 

Ginny stared down at her hands.

…

The ghost of the waning moon hung in the cool morning sky, it was the day Ginny was going home to the burrow. She and her mother had been exchanging owls all Summer long, she had said she understood Ginny's need to get away, but Ginny was unsure whether or not she could believe her. 

She packed up the few belongings she had brought to Luna's in a little suitcase and prepared to leave. She tried not to overthink it because she knew if she did she would never really go.

She stood by the kitchen fireplace, Luna's hands held securely in her own. 

"I'm going to miss you," Luna said, extracting a hand from Ginny's grip so she was able to pull the other girl into a hug. 

"We'll see each other soon," Ginny assured her, her voice muffled against Luna's shoulder "I love you." 

"I love you too," 

Ginny sprinkled a pinch of floo powder onto the flames and stepped into the fireplace, she gave Luna a parting wave. Suddenly she was whirling in a dizzy blur and then she was in her mother's fireplace.


End file.
